Amazon

The lungs of the Earth. The most biodiverse place of Gaia. The home of the Ayahuasca vine and countless other medicinal species of plant., as well as known and unknown indigenous cultures.

What is Rapé

Tobacco snuff is a sacred shamanic medicine or tool, that has been used by tribes of the Amazon basin for thousands of years and is an essential part of their tribal culture and history. Rapé is the name for one of many of these snuffs, and it’s foundation lies by numerous indiginous tribes in Acre, Brazil.

Four Transformations that Ayahuasca Tourism is Producing in the Traditional Ayahuasca Practice

A look into Western assumptions and modifications of traditional ayahuasca practices. “The ayahuasca brew is known locally as “the purge”: rather than to address a specific disease, the locals consume it to cleanse the stomach and the blood, throw up bad energy and attract good luck: hunting, sales, wife or husband. Thus, the purgative property of the remedy (result of the vine’s alkaloids, Banisteriopsis caapi) is privileged over its visionary property (due to the DMT of the chacruna, Psychotria viridis).

Westerners, in popular texts and widespread opinion, celebrate DMT; the vine’s function is to allow the DMT not to be destroyed in the stomach but instead reach the bloodstream.”

CARTA ABIERTA DE APOYO AL PUEBLO COFÁN Y CONTRA LAS ACTIVIDADES DE ALBERTO JOSÉ VARELA

Cien prestigiosos antropólogos, expertos y miembros de ONGS, que trabajan o han trabajado en Colombia con los pueblos originarios, y en ámbitos afines, han firmado “la carta de los 100” una carta abierta mostrando su apoyo a las autoridades del pueblo Cofán denunciantes de las actividades del señor Alberto José Varela relacionadas con el Yajé (también conocido como Ayahuasca). En este pronunciamiento público de las autoridades cofanes se afirma que: La organización del señor Alberto José Varela realiza encuentros para dar el remedio del Yajé de manera engañosa, aludiendo a una supuesta autorización o aval de las autoridades indígenas yageceras de Colombia. Que esta organización ha convertido el remedio del Yajé en un lucrativo negocio, poniendo en serio riesgo la vida y la salud de los participantes que acuden a sus ceremonias. Con esta Carta Abierta de Apoyo al Pueblo Cofán se denuncia el uso indebido por parte del señor Varela del nombre y las tradiciones de los pueblos originarios de Colombia, y concretamente del pueblo Cofán, que emplea fraudulentamente para legitimar sus actividades comerciales. También …

Representatives of the Cofán people issue a statement about Ayahuasca International

Representatives of the Cofán people have just published a statement about Alberto Varela and his organization: “Ayahuasca International.” For a number of years Varela had claimed to be the recipient of an authorization by the highest traditional authority of the Cofán people: Taita Querubín Queta Alvarado. The 4 page long text exposes how the private organization Ayahuasca International has illegitimately used the name of the Cofán taitas (shamans) from Colombia in order to gain credibility for their ayahuasca business activities, as shown in the following excerpt: “Mister Alberto José Varela has NEVER been given any instructions or training in the knowledge of the Sacred Medicine of Yage, neither has he EVER been authorised to carry it or use it in his international tours. This makes what is said in his alleged “authorisation” ABSOLUTELY FALSE.” Click here and download the original file in Spanish Click here to download the translation to english done by a certified legal translator ——————– Translation of the letter: The undersigned governor of the indigenous reservation Ukumari Kankhe, in use of his …

New York times runs surprisingly balanced report on Santo Daime for rehabilitation of prisoners

“We are considered the trash of Brazil, but this place accepts us,” said Darci Altair Santos da Silva, 43, a construction worker serving a 13-year sentence for sexual abuse of a child under 14. “I know what I did was very cruel. The tea helped me reflect on this fact, on the possibility that one day I can find redemption.”

Statement Critiquing the Ethnobotanical Stewardship Council (ESC)

A group of academics and others have published a letter expressing severe criticism of the methods and aims of the Ethnobotanical Stewardship Council (ESC), an NGO which has assumed the mission of ensuring the safety and sustainability of ayahausca and other entheogens. The letter is reproduced below. The debate continues… Statement Critiquing the Ethnobotanical Stewardship Council (ESC) (*) We, the academics and other experts undersigned, manifest publically our rejection of the ESC’s methods and goals. The following statement has been made public after more than one year of “dialogues” and correspondence with the ESC, as we do not feel our concerns have been properly addressed. The information below is a reflection based on the ESC’s reports and materials available online, in podcasts, in public representations and interviews, and from private letters and emails exchanged between us. All the information is supported by actual quotes from these sources, but these have been mostly deleted for the sake of space. The ESC has currently raised over $90,000 in a campaign to introduce ayahuasca use to a market-driven …